Lakeside Christian Church is on Toronto Road at 2nd Street in Springfield. Its two Sunday services, at 9:00 and 10:30 AM, sit at the center of a ministry known for inviting people to Explore Hope, Get Rooted, and Discover Purpose. The church pairs biblical worship with distinct ministries for children, students, adults, small groups, service, prayer, and mission work.
Two Sunday Services on Toronto Road
Each gathering lasts about an hour and features a Bible based message, engaging worship and music, and warm community. Free coffee and an emphasis on being imperfect people who are striving after Jesus give the services an informal, welcoming tone. Lakeside is at 225 Toronto Road in Springfield, near 2nd Street.
Visitors can wear anything from a formal suit to shorts and a shirt. The relaxed approach means each person is welcome to worship in whatever clothing brings them there.
Both services include Lakeside Kids for infants through fifth grade, and student worship is part of the 10:30 AM service. The gatherings are livestreamed at both times through Lakeside's online worship. Past messages, full services, and special event recordings are also available through on demand watching.
Explore Hope, Get Rooted, and Discover Purpose
Explore Hope
The first path is for people with doubts about God, unresolved questions about the Bible, difficulty relating faith and science, or curiosity about Christian teachings and spiritual matters. Lakeside treats those questions as legitimate conversation starters. Visitors can set the agenda for a conversation, and the church says doubt does not have to remain an obstacle. It can become a doorway to greater faith.
Get Rooted
Get Rooted speaks to anyone struggling to catch their breath, carrying hurts from a previous church experience, or sensing that God is frustratingly silent. Lakeside describes this as a time to reestablish solid ground and find relationships that support the next season. Its message to newcomers is direct: people do not have to have everything together to be welcome at the church.
Discover Purpose
Discover Purpose addresses the feeling that goals, job titles, and social media have not filled a deeper sense of calling. Lakeside speaks of life as a story still being written and says people can discover purpose through relationship with God and a life of mission. This path moves the focus from simply getting by to understanding why a life matters.
Birth to Fifth Grade in the Kids' Wing
Lakeside Kids serves infants through fifth grade during both adult services in the Kids' Wing. On a first visit, parents go to the Lakeside Kids check in desk on the far side of the lobby, where a trained volunteer walks them through registration and the classroom. After the initial registration, parents enter a phone number at a kiosk. The system prints the child's name tag and a matching pickup receipt.
- Safety: Every child is checked in with a matching receipt. Volunteers are trained and screened with background checks, and classrooms and the kids worship area are routinely patrolled by security and Lakeside Kids volunteers.
- Fun: Skits, music, and small groups are central parts of the weekend experience, with programming created specifically for children.
- Interactive teaching: Hands on activities and group discussions keep children engaged. Most experiences also include something to take home so families can continue discussing what the children learned.
Wednesday evening programming extends the same focus to children from birth through fifth grade. Children from 3 years old through fifth grade hear a Bible message and participate in small groups where they can apply the lesson to life with friends. Nursery care is provided for children under 3.
Lakeside Christian Preschool
The preschool serves children ages 3 and 4 with a strong emphasis on experiencing the love and Word of God, learning social skills, and growing mentally, socially, and spiritually. Three year old classes meet Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 11:30 AM, while four year old classes meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the same hours. All preschool classes meet in the Kids' Wing.
Student Worship and Youth Groups
Student ministry for grades 6 through 12 is built around an authentic environment in which students can experience God, build relationships, and grow as followers of Christ. Students participate in the 10:30 AM worship service. On the last Sunday of each month, they gather in the main worship center as a student section.
Junior High
The Junior High Youth Group meets on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, with doors open at 5:45 PM and pickup by 7:45 PM. Games begin the evening before students move into Discovery Bible Study groups. Each group explores a biblical passage, considers how its message connects to everyday life, and moves from knowing God's Word to living its message and sharing the good news with others. A monthly game night gives students a high energy setting for games and an opportunity to invite friends who do not already attend church.
Senior High
The Senior High Youth Group meets on Sundays from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, also opening its doors at 5:45 PM and providing time to leave by 7:45 PM. The rhythm closely follows the Junior High model: games, small groups, and practical examination of God's Word in daily life. The ministry emphasizes an encouraging atmosphere where students can connect with God and with one another.
Adult Classes and Small Groups
Sunday morning classes meet during both the 9:00 and 10:30 AM services. Although each class has its own character, the classes share a goal of structured biblical teaching, authentic community, encouragement, and spiritual growth for people at different stages of life.
Small groups include sermon based groups, Bible book studies, book studies, women's groups, men's groups, ongoing classes, and elective classes. Other group names include Rooted, Discovery Bible Study, Catalyst, Grief Group, and Logos. These gatherings are intended to connect biblical teaching from the weekend with the everyday lives of people in the surrounding community.
Men's Rhythms
The Men's Ministry uses studies, small groups, projects, and events to connect men with God and one another. A 33 group meets one weeknight each month to study authentic manhood as modeled by Jesus during His 33 years of life.
Men in Action meets on the third Saturday of each month at 7:30 AM. The morning begins with breakfast and a devotional thought, after which available men form work crews to meet community needs. Participants do not need to be handymen, and the gathering usually wraps up around 9:30 AM.
During football season, Monday Night Football gathers on fourth Mondays at 7:00 PM. The men share pizza, watch the game, hear a devotional thought at halftime, and spend time in fellowship.
Women's Rhythms
Lakeside Ladies' Nights meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM. Women of all ages are invited to talk about life, enjoy time together, and deepen their faith in Jesus.
A Wednesday morning Mom's Group and book study meets at 9:00 AM during the school year. The group provides prayer, support, study, and childcare. Other recurring studies include a daytime women's group meeting at 10:30 AM Tuesday and a sermon based group meeting at 5:15 PM Tuesday.
Learning, Prayer, and The Point
Lakeside provides free access to RightNow Media, an online library with more than 20,000 videos, Bible studies, teaching series, and faith based resources. Subjects include Bible books, marriage, parenting, finances, leadership, and mental health. An extensive children's section offers age appropriate material for family viewing. Free app access allows the library to be used on phones, tablets, smart televisions, and streaming devices.
The Lakeside Learning Hub offers courses and training under three headings that echo the church's central themes: Explore Faith, Get Rooted, and Discover Purpose. These classes are intended to deepen faith, strengthen spiritual knowledge, and prepare people for serving and volunteering.
The Point is a room attached to the lobby where people can speak with a church leader after a service about taking a next step in their relationship with Jesus. The same room is available for prayer.
Biblical Authority and the Shape of Lakeside's Faith
Lakeside holds that the Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God and the sole final authority for truth, morality, faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline. The church's elder team has final authority for interpreting the Bible's meaning and application.
One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
The church believes in one God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is the source of creation, sustains all things, and is redeeming creation. People can know God through what he reveals in creation, through careful attention to Scripture, and through the special revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is Comforter, Guide, Teacher, and Helper, speaking into sin and transforming people into the likeness of Jesus.
Jesus and Salvation
Jesus is affirmed as fully God and fully man, the only Son of God, born of the virgin Mary. He lived without sin, died for sin, rose again, and now holds authority in heaven and earth. Lakeside teaches that salvation and freedom from the curse of sin and death are found only through Jesus and his work on the cross. He will return, gather his followers, judge those who reject him, and bring an end to sin.
Human Life and the Response of Faith
Lakeside affirms that human beings are created in the image of God, that human life is sacred from conception, and that male and female are distinct complementary biological genders. Marriage is defined as one man and one woman in an exclusive union. The church also states that all humanity has sinned and falls short of God's glory, leaving people dependent on grace and forgiveness.
Salvation is God's offer through Jesus Christ alone, and every person is free to accept or reject it. Lakeside describes the saving process as allegiance to Christ involving faith, repentance, confession, baptism, and continued growth in Christian life. Baptism unites believers with the Holy Spirit, seals them as children of God, marks the beginning of their mission, and pictures death to sin and resurrection to new life.
The Church and Its Mission
The church is described as the body of Christ, a Holy Spirit transformed community, and a people in which every believer serves as a minister. It gathers for worship, uses spiritual gifts to serve others, loves and bears burdens for one another, submits to its elders, shares financially, pursues holiness, and seeks unity and peace.
Its mission is the Great Commission, its cultural mandate is care for God's created order, and its calling is to love all people. The Lord's Supper is observed as the weekly meal in which the Christian community remembers Christ's saving work, celebrates its covenant with him and one another, and proclaims his resurrection and return.
Restoration and Independent Churches
Lakeside belongs to the Restoration Movement tradition and is affiliated with independent Christian churches and churches of Christ. That movement arose on the American frontier in the early 1800s under leaders such as Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. It seeks church unity, biblical authority, and the essential practices of New Testament Christianity without using extra biblical creeds as tests of fellowship. Congregations are self governing under Christ and may differ on nonessential matters. Lakeside says it simply calls itself Christian in order to point others to Christ.
Mission Work Close to Home and Around the World
Lakeside defines the mission of the church as making disciples through the Great Commission, caring for creation, and loving all people. Its partnerships extend from Springfield families and students to camp ministry, university students, and Christian work in other nations.
Lee Elementary and Inner City Mission
At Lee Elementary School, Lakeside provides mentoring, classroom support, teacher and relationship engagement, and a food pantry for students and families. Other involvement includes lunch buddies, reading, morning greetings, arts assistance, and food collection for the school community.
Inner City Mission provides shelter, food, education, and Christian counseling to children experiencing homelessness, their parents, and single women. Lakeside supports the ministry through prayer, donations, volunteer work, and monthly childcare provided by its student ministry while parents receive training.
Additional Mission Partners
- Lake Springfield Christian Assembly: Provides Christian camp programming for people of all ages with the aim of helping campers encounter and engage the gospel.
- Christian Student Fellowship: A campus ministry at the University of Illinois Springfield that seeks to help students return to God and become disciples who make disciples.
- Myanmar Hope Christian Mission: Addresses spiritual, physical, emotional, and educational needs in Myanmar through community projects, a boarding school for disadvantaged children, leadership development, and regional church conferences.
- Pioneer Bible Translators: Works to make the Bible available to people groups around the world in their heart languages.
- Taking Christ to Millions Institute: Provides graduate education for national Christian leaders who can strengthen disciple making movements in their churches, cultures, and countries.
- Ozark Christian College and Lincoln Seminary: Provides biblical higher education with the goals of glorifying God, evangelizing the lost, and strengthening Christians around the world.
The Remodeled Kids' Wing and Five Giving Funds
One visible result of Lakeside's Vision Fund is the completed remodel of the Kids' Wing without remaining debt. The remodel supports a church wide emphasis on serving children and families through preschool, worship programming, groups, and safe check in procedures.
Giving is organized into five funds:
- Core Fund: Supports daily ministry and operations, including administration, Next Generation ministries, adult ministry, and missions.
- Vision Fund: Extends ministry beyond daily operations and helped complete the Kids' Wing remodel without debt.
- Caring Fund: Assists people in the Lakeside community with groceries, gas, and other essential resources during times of need.
- Mission Fund: Supports local and global mission partners beyond what is already included in the Core Fund.
- Expansion Fund: Prepares for ministry expansion such as a sanctuary, campus improvements, other expansion projects, or church planting as approved by the elders.
Lakeside describes generosity as reflecting God's heart and giving with an eternal impact on hearts, families, the church, workplaces, the community, and the world. Contributions can be made through online giving.
Pastoral and Ministry Leadership
- Jon Morrissette serves as lead pastor and elder.
- Brad Owen serves as associate minister.
- Jay Brooks serves as pastoral care minister.
- Seth Webster serves as student minister.
- Mitch Pliska serves as worship minister.
The elder team also includes Akindele Adaramola, Trent Wiseman, Steve Helm, and Derek Rhoads. Together these leaders share responsibility for the church's pastoral care, worship, student ministry, teaching, administration of congregational life, and mission.
Rooted in Worship and Mission
At Lakeside Christian Church, the recurring pattern is simple to state: Find God, Follow Jesus, and Flourish by the Spirit. From the 9:00 and 10:30 AM services to the Kids' Wing, youth groups, adult classes, mission partnerships, and leadership team, the Springfield congregation keeps those aims connected to biblical worship, intergenerational formation, service, prayer, and one another.